


A newer, cooler version

by Abiggaynerd



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Abuse, Bittersweet Ending, M/M, Not really a whole fic? More like just a bunch of scenes i wanted to write...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 17:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10859001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abiggaynerd/pseuds/Abiggaynerd
Summary: Jeremy's squip looks like the person he trusts most





	A newer, cooler version

**Author's Note:**

> Idea from this post! http://frickmyrick.tumblr.com/post/160125002418/im-so-pissed-off-at-windows-8-rn
> 
> I was gonna do a whole story, but i got kinda bored haha... this was still fun to make though

Jeremy seized up, suddenly feeling horrible, spiky pain in his head. 

"Target Female: Inaccessible," said Michael in an oddly monotone voice. Wait, wasn't Michael at that Spenser's-

"M-Michael? WhAT DO YOU MEAN-" Jeremy shrieked. "OW, FUCK-"

"Calibration in progress. Please excuse some mild discomfort."

"MILD??? MICHAEL WHAT-"

Jeremy barely processed Christine and Jake trying to talk to him, over the agonizing pain in his head. He screamed. 

"Calibration complete. Access procedure initiated," said Michael. The pain faded, and Jeremy became aware of where he was. 

"No, way way way wait wait wait." He smiled at Christine in embarrassment. "I'm fine, I just-"

"Discomfort level may increase," said Michael. 

Jeremy screamed. The pain was worse than anything he'd ever felt. He began to blindly run away, but the pain still followed. He couldn't stop shaking and spasming. Hot tears were streaming down his face. 

"Accessing: neural memory. Accessing: muscle memory. Access procedure: complete. Jeremy Heere..."

And just like that, the pain was gone. Jeremy stood on shaky legs, wiping the tears from his face as he stared at Michael in front of him. 

"Welcome to your Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor.... Your SQUIP."

Jeremy said nothing for a moment.

"Michael, was that some sort of.... prank? Because that was awful and honestly I'm kind of hurt you'd-"

Michael sighed, seemingly annoyed. "No. I am your SQUIP. My appearance is based off of the person you trust the most, in order to establish trust and communication with me right off the bat."

"O-oh." Jeremy blinked. Now that he was focusing on him, Michael did look different. He was wearing clothes that looked incredibly cool, instead of his usual red hoodie and jeans. His hair was slicked back with hair gel. But his eyes were the most striking change. They had glowing, red pupils, and sunglasses instead of glasses.

"Can other people see you?" 

"No. I exist only in your mind. So I recommend not speaking to me out loud. Just think what you want to say. Pretend you're telepathic." 

"Like in X-Men?" Jeremy said, still speaking out loud. 

Michael looked at him with disdain. "I can tell this is going to be difficult. You need to be more chill." 

"You mean cool?" 

"I absolutely do not. Now, take your hands out of your pockets." 

Jeremy stared at him for a moment, until Michael prompted him with a wave of his hand. He slowly took his hands out of his pockets.

"Arch your back, and puff out your chest." 

"But Michael, I'll look stupid-"

"Jeremy, did you pay four hundred dollars for a computer you were just going to ignore?" 

Jeremy sighed, and did as instructed. 

"Add some swagger to your gait, or you'll look like a mastrurbator. Once you fix your posture, we can fix the rest." 

"But. I am a mastrubator." 

Michael's lips curled in disgust. "We'll fix that." 

Jeremy began to try to walk as Michael had instructed. 

"All your nerdiness is ugly," Michael remarked. 

"N-nerd? I-" 

"All your stammering's a chore." 

"Wh-wh-" 

"Your tics and fidgets are giving me a headache, and I'm a super computer. You have no charm. We need to do some real work on your vibe. I've got my work cut out for me." 

Jeremy began to feel very small. Even though he knew this wasn't Michael, probably, hearing all this from the one person on his side was like a punch in the gut. He tried to put his hands in his pockets again. 

He flinched as he felt a painful shock in his hands. 

"Wha-"

"I said not to put your hands in your pockets." 

"I'm, um. I'm sorry? But did you just shock me?" 

Michael looked at Jeremy, judging him from head to toe. Jeremy shrunk back. 

"Everything about you is so... terrible." 

Jeremy felt his heart stop. It's not Michael. It's not Michael. It's not-

"Everything about you makes me wanna die." 

Jeremy's mouth went dry. He felt like throwing up. 

Michael noticed. "Don't freak out. And don't resist. If you just do those two things for me, you'll be fine.

Jeremy began to slouch again, before Michael shocked him again. 

"Okay," Michael sighed. "First things first: let's buy you a new shirt." 

"What's wrong with my-" 

Michael held a finger to Jeremy's mouth and smiled condescendingly. "It's better if you just comply. My job is to... Fix..... All that." He gestured vaguely at Jeremy. "So just go get when I tell you to get, and don't ask why." 

Jeremy went into the first clothing store he saw. He began to look through the shirts. Michael shook his head no to all of them. 

"Everything about you is so terrible," Michael said. Jeremy flinched. 

"You've already said that." 

"I cannot emphasize it enough. Everything about you makes me want to die." 

"Oh," Jeremy said quietly. 

"All the people in this mall think you're such a slob." 

Jeremy felt eyes all over him, judging. He tried to focus on the shirts. 

"W-what about this one," he asked quietly. 

"That's a girl's shirt." 

\---

Jeremy waved at Chloe and Brooke as they left. He turned to Michael with a huge grin on his face. 

"Michael, did you see that?? They invited me to drive with them! They talked to me! That was amazing!" 

Jeremy flinched as he noticed the barely concealed anger Michael was showing. 

"I told you to accept. Why didn't you?" 

Jeremy laughed. "I gotta go home with yo- I mean, Michael! Oh man, I gotta tell-"

"Michael has left." 

"W-what? Wait, how do you know-" 

"I can access the mall security cameras. He left without you." 

"Why would he-" 

"He most likely saw you with the girls and left you alone with them." 

"Oh." Jeremy sighed. "How am I gonna get home now?" 

"I told you to accept. You didn't listen." 

Jeremy looked away and scowled. 

"Jeremy. You can't just listen. You have to obey." 

"But-" Jeremy's words died in his throat as Michael glared at him. 

"Repeat after me. Everything about you is so terrible." 

Jeremy stared at Michael. His mouth was dry. "M-michael-" 

Michael raised an eyebrow. 

Jeremy looked at the floor. "Everything about me is just terrible." 

"Good," Michael cooed, smiling at him. "Now: Everything about you makes me wanna die." 

Jeremy vision blurred with tears, and he tried to blink them away. "Everything about me makes me wanna-die."

"Now you're getting it!" Jeremy snuffled quietly. "Good boy. Jeremy, if you just listen to me, we can change all that. Everything about you will be wonderful! Everyone will love you! You won't be left out or unsure. You won't be ugly anymore! Everything about you is going to be cool. And powerful. And popular. And incredible. You'll-"

"Be more chill," Jeremy said. He took a deep breath. Right. Michael wasn't saying this to hurt him. It was to help him be what he wanted to be. Everything he was saying was right, anyway.

\---

"Jeremy." 

Jeremy yelped. "I'm sorry," he tried to apologize, but he still got shocked. 

"What did we say about mastrubation?" 

Jeremy's face went red. "N-not too." 

"If you have time to be mastrubating, you have time for pushups. Chop chop." 

Jeremy sighed, and pushed himself off the bed to start working out. 

"You're really bad at that," Michael said encouragingly. He patted Jeremy's back. 

Jeremy shrieked, and fell to the ground. 

"Hmm, we'll need to work on that awful shriek of yours, too." 

"You can TOUCH ME??" 

Michael blinked at him. "I can give you the illusion of being touched, yes. I have complete control over all of your nerve endings." 

Jeremy shuttered. "It's so.... cold."

"I cannot replicate heat." 

\---

"This is my favorite place behind the school," Brooke said shyly. "Being here with you right now is....." She put Jeremy's hand under her shirt. 

"I'll guide you," said Brooke and the Squip in unison. 

"Just take me inside you," Michael said. Jeremy's face heated up. It was... weird, to hear Michael utter those words. "Forever~" 

Jeremy became tense. He didn't want to have sex with Brooke. "I'm- I'm sorry, Brooke, I- I need to go-" 

"Don't worry about the guilt you feel! Take a deep breath-"

"Jeremy?" Brooke said. 

"Don't- it's not your fault- I gotta go-" Jeremy was stumbling backwards, then running away. He stopped in the safety of the front of the school. 

"Jeremy," Michael hissed. "Your life was so pitiful before. You ruined it! We have a plan, now be a man. Start with Brooke, work your way to Christine." 

Jeremy frowned. "But-" 

"DAMNIT JEREMY!" Michael hissed. "You wanted an upgrade! Why are you resisting so much?" 

"Just-" Jeremy took a deep breath. "Can you leave me alone, for like, a second?"

"...Of course." 

Jeremy was somewhat surprised that worked, before turning and finding Michael still in front of him. 

"DAMNIT!" He hissed. "I thought I turned you off!!" 

Michael turned, and looked at him for a moment. 

"Jeremy, what the fuck?" 

Jeremy relaxed. "Oh, oh, it's you. Hi, Michael. Where have you been all day?" 

"You mean you HAVEN'T been ignoring me?" 

"Wha-" Jeremy scowled. "Reactive."

"It's called optic nerve blocking." 

"What?" 

"I blocked him from your field of vision." 

"What the fuck? He's my best friend-"

Michael sighed, like he was explaining something to a very small child. "This Michael has been replaced with a newer version of him. An upgrade. You don't need this obsolete version any more."

"-get stoned in my basement!" 

Jeremy looked from one Michael to the other. 

Well. New Jeremy, new Michael, right? Just for a little while. He'd make it up to Michael later.

"Optic nerve blocking, on." 

\---

Jeremy sighed as he sat on the bathtub's side, and screamed as a monster hand grabbed him. He turned to see Michael.

"I thought you were off!" Jeremy moaned. "Lot of help you were-"

"Um." 

"Oh, you're. Not. You can't turn you off."

"Yeah, no shit. Uh. I had a lot of shit I was gonna say but I kinda forgot it all?" 

Jeremy sighed. "It's good to see you, man." 

"It won't be."

"What?"

"I got. Really concerned? So I started asking around, and apparently your most trusted person is the one your squip takes the form of? Am I your squip?" 

"Uh, yeah."

"Thought so. Well, it turns out, these squips are bad news. One guy-" 

"You want me to get rid of this squip??" Jeremy clenched his fists. "You were the one who wanted me to get it!" 

"Jeremy, no I wasn't-"

"You said I needed it! You said I was terrible and I made you want to die!" 

"What- I would never-" 

"Why are you trying to take it away??" Jeremy began to panic. "Are you saying I'm beyond hope?" 

"W-"

"WELL FUCK YOU!! I'm not going to give up! I'll become cool and make it so I can be around you without you wanting to die!" Jeremy ran out of the bathroom. Michael stared at him, too shocked to move. 

\---

Jeremy attempted to drink from the bottle of Mountain Dew Red, but found his body wouldn't cooperate. 

"You don't want to do that, Jeremy." 

Jeremy's eyes flickered upwards, meeting Mich- the Squip in the eyes. 

"Why not?" Jeremy said, struggling to move his arm. 

"Because then you'll never be with... Him." 

Jeremy choked on his spit. "What? What are you talking about??"

"Don't deny it. You and I both know you're in love with Michael." 

"N-no! I like Christine!" Jeremy sputtered. "What are you even- if I liked you- him, why would you try keep me away from-?" 

Michael sighed. "It was distracting from your primary objective, which was to be more chill. However, even after so long... You still have feelings for him. No amount of interjection from my part will stop you." 

Jeremy stared at Michael, speechless. 

"But- Christine-" 

"Christine was always more of a celebrity crush, don't you think? Someone you knew you had no chance with. Someone to distract you from the person right under your nose." 

Jeremy shook his head. "Well, even if I do- like- Michael, I have the real one! I don't need you!"

"But, do you really think, after everything you've done to him, he'll ever reciprocate? Of course not. You're terrible. However..." 

Michael was suddenly very close. Too close. Jeremy held his breath. 

"I could be Michael for you. This Michael will never hate you, or resent you. This Michael doesn't care if you're ugly, or terrible. I'll do whatever you want, Jeremy~ All you have to do is put the Mountain Dew down." 

Michael licked his lips and smiled coyly. Jeremy tried to breath normally. He stared at Michael for a moment. 

A freezing, ghostly hand touched his arm. 

Michael's eyes were glowing red. 

"I- I- that's- No. No, you're not Michael." 

Michael's, NO, THE SQUIP'S, eyes widened in horror as Jeremy downed the old soda. 

As much as the squip had been tormenting him, hearing your best friend scream in agony as he died was still the worst thing you could ever hear. 

 

\---

 

"Jeremy!" Michael yelled, running into the room suddenly. Jeremy flinched violently, immediately trying to get away from him. The IVs in his arm tugged painfully. 

"I thought I managed to turn you OFF!" Jeremy wailed, covering his face and cowering. 

"Jeremy?" Jeremy heard Michael come closer, Rich's concerned "Is he okay?" and the sound of the curtain quickly being closed. 

"Jeremy, hey, hey, it's me! Your best friend. You're safe now. Jeremy, can you look at me?"

Jeremy slowly pulled his hands away from his face, eyes still tightly shut. He took a labored breath. It's the real Michael. It's the real Michael. 

"Jeremy, you're doing great. Open your eyes?" 

Jeremy tensed at the direct order, despite the gentle way it was presented. His eyes flew open out of fear of being shocked. But instead of sunglasses and the awful, glowing red eyes, it was glasses and Michael's beautiful, deep brown eyes. 

Michael smiled at him. A beautiful, gentle, warm smile, not the awful, terrible, fake smile the squip liked to wear. "See? Just me. You're okay, buddy." 

Jeremy took a shaky breath and quickly pulled Michael into his arms. Michael was surprised, but quickly returned the hug. 

He didn't make a sound as he quietly cried into Michael's hoody. Michael didn't move, or even comment. He just held him. It was nice. Solid, warm. Not the cool, ghostly, lose concentration and it'll disappear-touch that the squip had. Jeremy held onto Michael for dear life.

Finally, Jeremy pulled away. Michael didn't let go, but he loosened his grip enough to look Jeremy in the face. 

"I'm sorry about your hoodie." 

Michael laughed. "Dude, there is way worse shit you could be apologizing for right now." 

Jeremy wilted. "I- I'm sorry." 

"Ah, hey, no, I didn't mean it like that. I know you're sorry." Michael said. 

"I'm still sorry, though. For confusing you and my squip..." 

"Hey, hey." Michael touched Jeremy's face. "I'm not mad at you for that. That was completely that fucking- that was it's fault. It used me to manipulate you." 

"Still." Jeremy sniffled. He looked away. 

"Anyway, your dad is here." 

\---

"You're not gonna ask out Christine?" Michael said, shocked. He paused the game and put down his controller. "But you went through all that shit for her!" 

Jeremy shifted uncomfortably. "She, uh, kinda brings back bad memories for me now. I'd rather just be friends." 

Michael shook his head. "I'm sorry, Jer." 

Jeremy scratched his head awkwardly. "It's fine! I mean, after all that, who needs girls, right?" 

"Hm." 

The room became awkward and tense. Jeremy found himself curling into himself, before flinching and forcing himself to sit up straight. 

"Sorry!" 

"For what? I don't care you don't want to date right now-" 

"No- I. I." Jeremy swallowed his embarrassment. "I thought. You were going to- it doesn't matter. Forget it." 

"No, Jeremy, what's wrong? You flinched." Michael's face became angry, and Jeremy scooted away from him. "Does it have to do with that good for nothing, fucking-" 

"Sorry!" Jeremy blurted out. "I mean- yes. I mean- forget it. It's not important." 

"Jeremy. What were you afraid I was going to do?" Michael was staring, unblinkingly, into Jeremy's eyes. 

Jeremy averted his gaze. "I- it's not a big deal. I mean, it's really nothing at all, seriously-" 

"Jeremy." 

"He. Um, he- I was afraid you were going to. Shock. me?" Jeremy attempted to laugh it off. "It's not that big of a deal, really, it could've been a lot worse and I know it's a dumb thing to be afraid of and it's really fine, it's nothing-" 

Michael was seething. Jeremy tried to ignore that. "He. SHOCKED you. On Purpose." 

"I mean, yeah, or just cause pain to a certain part of my body, he was like in complete control of it? But like yeah if I did something he didn't like he would.... do that." 

Michael jumped up and began pacing back and forth, clutching his head. Jeremy watched him warily. 

"I'm going to fucking kill him. I'm going to take that FUCKING computer into my own two hands and rip him apart-" 

"Michael, he's already dead. Heh." 

"Fortunately for him." Michael stopped and sat down again. "Fuck, Jeremy, I'm so sorry, I wish I could've- could've- fuck, FUCK-" 

"It's really not that big of a deal," Jeremy tried to reassure. "I mean, it was just to help me-" 

"You didn't deserve that, Jer." 

"Oh." 

There was a long, strained silence. 

"I'm in love with you." 

If Michael had been drinking something, Jeremy would've been soaked. 

"What??" Michael looked like he was gonna puke. Not the reaction Jeremy was hoping for. 

"I'm sorry-"

"Is this some sort of weird Stockholm syndrome thing? Oh fuck, Jeremy-" 

"No!" Jeremy said, a bit too forcefully. "I mean, no. I- he tried to get rid of it. He said. It was from before. So-" 

"Jeremy." Michael's hand was on his knee. "I love you too. But you have to understand. We- we can't date right now." 

"If you love me too, then why not?" 

Michael looked genuinely devastated. He looked away. 

"Jeremy, I can't date you because you flinch every time I walk in the room. If I told you to do something, you'd do it."

"No I wouldn't!" 

"Jeremy. Stand up, clap three times, and-"

Before Michael finished his sentence, Jeremy was already doing as instructed. It was like a reflex. He stared at Michael in horror. 

"See? I would love to date you, I really would, I promise, but I just. Can't. I can't risk taking advantage of you. I don't even know if you really love me-" 

"I do!!" Jeremy said, desperately. "Really, I promise!" 

"I know you think you do, but..." Michael shakes his head. 

Jeremy doesn't move. "So you're rejecting me." 

"No, Jeremy, that's not what I mean." Michael had gotten up too, now, and had grabbed Jeremy's hand again. "How about this: we'll make a deal." 

"What?" 

"If you still... love me, once you're better, if I can come into the room without you flinching, we can date." 

Jeremy's shoulders sagged. "Al- alright, I guess." It was the best he was going to get.

Michael smiled and pulled Jeremy into a hug. 

The touch was warm and solid.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Not Yet](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11078829) by [beautifulboimckinley](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beautifulboimckinley/pseuds/beautifulboimckinley)




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